Kemi Badenoch faced fresh pressure last night after a Tory MP set up a ‘countdown clock’ to the day they hope she will be toppled.
News about the account on X, named @kemicountdown, follows a week in which the Tory leader was hit by a fresh wave of defections to Reform UK.
East Wiltshire MP Danny Kruger made the switch before ex-Tory health minister Maria Caulfield became the 15th former Conservative MP to defect to Nigel Farage‘s party.
And it comes as one of Reform’s top targets for defection, Sir John Hayes, warns in today’s Mail on Sunday: ‘Unless the Conservative Party changes it will wither and die,’ adding: ‘We must demonstrate an energy that matches the nation’s restlessness; a boldness that recognises its desire for rapid change; and a doggedness that shows our commitment to do the right thing.’
The anonymous disgruntled MP posts on @kemicountdown every day, gleefully counting down until November 3 – the first date a leadership challenge can be launched under Tory party rules.
Polls suggest that if a general election was held tomorrow the number of MPs would be reduced to double figures – leaving them in third place for the first time in modern history. Many Tory MPs are now resigned to losing their seats at the next election if they stand as Conservatives.
In addition, party insiders talk of low morale in Kemi’s office, with senior staff searching for jobs and others ‘zoned out’; however, Mrs Badenoch loyalists point to a recent improvement in her Commons performances, including the battering she gave Sir Keir Starmer over his handling of Peter Mandelson’s links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
However, most senior party figures expect rebels to bide their time until after the local elections in May before making a move.
Kemi Badenoch faced fresh pressure last night after a Tory MP set up a ‘countdown clock’ to the day they hope she will be toppled
Robert Jenrick, the current favourite to take over from Mrs Badenoch, is more amenable to forming a pact with Reform. Tory Party officials are pinning hopes on their conference in October. One senior MP said: ‘Kemi will be among members who overwhelmingly voted her in less than a year ago. It should be her natural habitat – she needs to perform.’
To help prepare, Mrs Badenoch has drafted in former MP Rob Butler, who helped Liz Truss with her leadership debates in 2022. He will help Mrs Badenoch with her presentation and communication skills amid what sources call her ‘one-sided armistice’ to Reform.
Almost a year on from Mrs Badenoch taking the leadership, Neil O’Brien MP, the Tories’ new policy chief, is said to be shocked at the lack of fresh policies. ‘He’s opened the door to find there’s nothing there’, one insider said.
She is expected to announce at conference that the party is committed to leaving the European Convention on Human Rights – seen as crucial to securing Britain’s borders. However, strategists worry that this won’t ‘shift the dial’ given that Reform made the same announcement last month.
One Tory MP said: ‘We know the ship is going down. The question is whether the party wants to go down with her’.
A spokesman for Mrs Badenoch said: ‘We don’t care about Twitter jokes, the economy is in crisis and we’re focused on that.’
He added that ‘operationally we are in better shape’ under Mrs Badenoch.
